[Objective] The spatial-temporal change of land use and its driving mechanism in Dongjiang River basin from 1990 to 2018 was analyzed in order to provide support for the land us optimization.[Methods] Four evaluation indexes of land use, principal component analysis and grey relation analysis methods were employed to investigate the land use change and its driving mechanism.[Results] ① From 1990 to 2018, the land use types were mainly forest and farmland, the area of construction land continue to increase, while the area of other land use types decreased. The cultivated land and forest land were the main transferring sources of the construction land. ② The comprehensive land use index of the river basin increased year by year with an annual rate of 0.038, which indicated that the land use was in an upward developing trend. ③ Rapid economic development, population growth, social affluence, and agricultural development were the main driving forces of land use change, while the effects of various driving factors on land use change were different.[Conclusion] From 1990 to 2018, the land use structure of Dongjiang River basin was continuously optimized, while the land use agglomeration was constantly increasing. With the development of the Guangdong-Hongkong-Macao greater bay area, land development and utilization activities will be more frequent within the basin area.